Adam Van Zelst enters his ninth season on the bench for the Albright men's basketball program. He joined the Albright men's basketball coaching staff prior to the 2010-11 season. He graduated from Albright with a bachelor's degree in Business Marketing.
Van Zelst has become a coach on the rise in the NCAA ranks as he was named to the Under Armour 2017-18 30-Under-30 coaching team that honors group of up and coming young coaches in all three divisions of men's college basketball that are currently under the age of 30 years old. He also helped coach 2017-18 MAC Commonwealth player of the year DeJuan Smith.
Albright finished first in the 2017-18 MAC Commonwealth regular season standings with a 20-7 overall record and 12-4 record in conference play. They advanced to the MAC Commonwealth Championship game for the second-straight season after they defeated No. 6 seed Arcadia at home, 58-45. The Lions lost a 70-68 heartbreaker to No. 2 seed Lebanon Valley in the title game, but still made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 as an at-large team. Albright lost another close game, 88-86, to Springfield in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
In 2016-17, Albright posted a 10-6 record in conference play, the Lions' most wins since the 2012-13 season. Albright entered the MAC Commonwealth tournament as the No. 3 seed before earning an 86-68 road victory at second-seeded Widener. The Lions went on to the title game at Lycoming, where they lost, 76-62.
Albright went 13-13 in 2013-14, reaching a third straight Commonwealth Conference Tournament. The Lions had two All-Commonwealth selections, and freshman Sameen Swint was named the league's Rookie of the Year.
In 2012-13 season, the Lions won 22 games (second-highest in program history) while hosting both Commonwealth and ECAC South Tournament games. In addition, senior Dave Singleton was named an honorable mention All-American.
Albright achieved a 17-9 mark in 2011-12, qualifying for the Commonwealth Conference Tournament after winning its final six regular season games. The Lions also won the Moravian Greyhound Starter's Classic and Wyndham Reading Tip-Off Tournament, and traveled to Ithaca, N.Y. to face Division I and Ivy League opponent Cornell University.
Van Zelst continues to be heavily involved with the prestigious Hoop Group Elite, Skill, and Top 100 camps throughout the east coast.
As a four-year member of the men's basketball program, Van Zelst played a major role in leading the Lions to Commonwealth Conference tournament title and NCAA tournament appearance in 2010. During his senior season Van Zelst was named captain, and led the Lions in total assists and assists per game.
A native of Levittown, Pa., Van Zelst attended Conwell-Egan Catholic high school, where he was a second team All-Catholic league player and captain as a senior.
